


The Middle and Medium

by DarkFairytale



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Brother Feels, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-02 01:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17878061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkFairytale/pseuds/DarkFairytale
Summary: “I thought you said you needed me to stick around!” Ben argued.“Yes well,” Klaus crossed his arms, a tad pissed off, nose lifted haughtily. “Maybe,” he suggested, waving his ‘goodbye’ hand in a 'shoo-shoo' gesture. “Maybe I have changed my mind!”The only problem was, when Ben didn’t answer and Klaus glanced to where Ben had been, Ben was actually gone.“Oh no wait,” Klaus said. “Ah shit."





	The Middle and Medium

**Author's Note:**

> So I am back with another Holy Trinity Klaus & Ben & Diego fic. Thanks so much to everyone who has been so kind about my first one - 'Leave A Light On' - I will be replying to comments on that asap! I hope very much that you enjoy this one too!

When the Umbrella Academy had stood all in a line for photographs, Allison and Klaus had stood in the middle, because 3 and 4 centered one to six. But the photographs hadn't been accurate of their home life. When _all_ of Reginald Hargreeves’ adopted children had all stood in a line, one through to seven, it was Klaus that had been in the middle. For a kid that had six siblings all of the same age, Klaus still liked to play up the middle-child syndrome. He was dead centre, right in the middle, because Number 4 centered one to seven.

He liked being in the centre of things. Being the centre of attention was fun, but only when he intended to be the centre of attention.

He was used to playing the middleman on occasion. He was the one that got in the middle of heated arguments between Luther and Diego, or Number 5 and Luther, or Diego and Number 5; Klaus was the most chaotic peacekeeper you could hope to find; defusing situations with a quip, or by doing something outrageous to draw attention or frustration away from the argument. Being the middleman was natural to him, even after all those years away from his family. But this? This was taking middleman-ship to a whole new level; or plain of existence, if you will.

“Tell Luther that I think this plan is terrible,” Ben told Klaus.

“Ben says to tell you that he thinks this plan is terrible,” Klaus told Luther.

Luther sighed, “Tell Ben that this isn’t my plan. It’s Number 5’s.”

“I am quite aware of that,” Klaus dismissed with a wave of his hand, “And so is Ben, he has been here this whole time. But, you know, you’re the designated leader here…” he paused to allow for Diego’s inevitable scoff, and once it came, Klaus carried on, “And maybe Ben thinks…”

“Ben _does_ think,” Ben clarified.

“And Ben thinks,” Klaus corrected himself, eyes rolling heavenward. “That maybe you can talk some sense into the old man…”

“I am right here,” Number 5 snapped, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, foot tapping. “And as the ‘old man’ here I have much more of an idea of what is going to work or not.”

“And as second eldest,” Klaus said, using his ten months in ‘Nam to his advantage, not for the first time. “I think that…”

“What would you have me do, Ben?” Number 5 interrupted impatiently, turning to look at the empty space beside Klaus.

“Uh, 5,” Klaus said, pointing to the other side of him, where Ben actually stood, snorting a laugh.

Number 5 turned to the right direction with an exasperated huff. “What would you have me do, Ben?” he asked again, to what was to him, empty air. And only then did Number 5 look at Klaus.

Klaus sighed dramatically and looked at Ben. “Well?”

“I just think that it needs a bit more observation before you go charging in there headfirst,” Ben reasoned, eyes on Klaus as he said it.

Klaus turned back to the group. “Ben says that you can’t be trusted and should stay here at base…ouch!” Klaus protested, when Ben punched him in the arm. “Ok, ok, jeez, calm it down will you?” He scolded Ben, before sighing even more dramatically. “Ben says that it needs a bit more observation before you go charging in there headfirst.”

“I agree with Ben,” Allison said, voice still raspy, but healing, thankfully.

“Me too,” Vanya added, softly. She still didn’t trust them, and she was still getting used to being included in ‘super’ conversations. She always spoke tentatively, like she wasn’t sure that her opinion would be wanted or trusted in turn. “We are our adult selves, but our child selves are still here too. We need to be sure there isn’t any crossover that we don’t intend.”

“I hear that,” Number 5 said, “But I’ve weighed the variables. I’ve done all the calculations. But,” he sighed, “I _suppose,_ ” he said, exasperated, like he would much rather not, “We will have to take a _vote_. Luther?”

Luther debated, “I’m with you,” he said to Number 5. “Sorry Ben,” he added, glancing guiltily in the approximate direction of Ben. And then apologetically at Allison.

“Diego? I assume you’re with me?” Number 5 asked.

Diego lifted his hand in acknowledgment, “Count me in.”

Number 5 clucked his tongue, muttering to himself; “Even then it’s not enough to outweigh…four votes to three…though we shouldn’t really include the votes of the dead…no offence Ben…”

“Actually,” Diego spoke up. “You didn’t hear Klaus’ vote. You just assumed he agreed with Ben.”

Klaus, surprised but delighted that Diego had noticed, sent his brother a dazzling smile. “Finally!” he crowed, throwing his arms out. “Thank you, brother dear.”

Number 5 had turned to Klaus and was watching him like Klaus was his new favourite person in the world. It was a little disconcerting and not at all as endearing as Number 5 clearly thought it was. 

“Klaus?” Number 5 prompted.

Klaus noted all the imploring gazes. Centre of attention. The middleman casting the final vote, the swaying vote. He couldn’t help but feel a little bitter that Ben almost took his vote, and pleased that Diego had noticed, so, as he normally did, he voted the way of the person he liked the most in that moment.

“I’m all for getting on with it, let’s go!”

Number 5 smiled his wide, pleased smile and said “That’s that then. Decided." He then dismissed the conversation by declaring, "I need coffee."

The others dispersed; Allison to presumably question Luther over his choice of vote, and Diego followed Vanya to the next room; Diego had often dismissed Vanya as both children and adults, but he was trying now, to some slow success. And Number 5 went in search of a decent coffee.

Klaus glanced at Ben, who was shaking his head at him, fond but disappointed. “That was petty,” he said. “And childish.”

Klaus stuck his tongue out at him, showing him what childish could really be, and held up his ‘goodbye’ palm.

It was nice that the others were including Ben in their conversations. It had started with Diego asking Klaus to tell Ben things, but it had developed to them all actually addressing Ben directly, including him in their greetings or ‘goodnights’. Klaus could see how happy it made Ben, that innocent grin growing wider on his face. And it was nice.

But sometimes they would ask Ben a question and just expect Klaus to provide the answer and Klaus couldn’t help but sometimes feel less like a component and more like a mouthpiece; the Medium becoming merely a middleman communicator.

“You know I don’t mean for them to do it,” Ben told him quietly that night, when they were lounging in Klaus’ bedroom of the warehouse they had managed to purchase as their base.

Klaus glanced up from his knitting. “I know you don’t,” Klaus sighed, dropping his needles. “It’s nice that they include you.”

“But not that they sometimes exclude you by doing it.”

Klaus shrugged, “It makes little difference to me, mein Bruder. It wasn’t like they listened to what I had to say before.”

Ben walked over and climbed onto the bed next to Klaus, their shoulders pressed together.

“Have you tried looking for anyone but me since we came back to the past?” Ben asked. “Dave? For instance?”

“No, no,” Klaus shook his head, gave a heavy sigh. “I’ve not had the energy. Conjuring you was a lot, you know, and then with the time jump…” he trailed off, idly waving his hand around. “I will look for him soon. I just need a bit of a break from the…” he stalled.

“From the dead?” Ben finished for him, sounding a little put-out.

“Ben, no! Come on, man! I didn’t mean that,” Klaus slumped dramatically into Ben's side. “Don’t put words into my mouth.” _Any more than you have been doing,_ a vicious little voice thought.

“I heard that, you know,” Ben crossed his arms, looking mightily displeased.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Klaus sat up, he held a hand to his head, wishing that he had more of a filter. “Man, I need a drink.”

“You need to stay clean,” Ben corrected, pushing Klaus back down. “Carry on with your knitting.”

“You see,” Klaus said, easily dropping his impulse, picking up his needles, “This is why you need to stick around.”

***

“I thought you said you needed me to stick around!” Ben argued with him less than a day later.

Luther had accidentally asked Ben’s opinion before asking Klaus’ and Klaus had gotten huffy and refused to give Ben’s answer. He had flounced off, and Ben had flailed after him. And Klaus had maybe told him that he was tired of playing Medium and that he wished Ben could leave him alone for a bit. He didn’t mean it. Well, at that moment he meant it a little bit, but he didn’t _really_ mean it. But a stroppy Klaus was a stubborn Klaus, and there was little to be done but roll with the ghostly punches; or rather, the ghostly pouts. As was the case currently with Ben.

“Yes well,” Klaus crossed his arms, a tad pissed off, nose lifted haughtily. “Maybe,” he suggested, waving his ‘goodbye’ hand in a 'shoo-shoo' gesture. “Maybe I have changed my mind!”

The only problem was, when Ben didn’t answer and Klaus glanced to where Ben had been, Ben was actually gone.

“Oh no wait,” Klaus said. “Ah shit. Ben! Beeeen! Ben, come on man!” Klaus whined to the empty air, stumbling to the spot Ben had last been. Klaus wasn’t used to the empty air. “No come back! Ben! Beeeeeen!”

“What the hell are you screeching about?” Diego groused, coming into the room they had designated as a kitchen and opening the fridge.

“Ben’s gone.”

“Gone?” Diego frowned. “Gone where?”

“Err…” Klaus tilted his head, thoughtful. “I’m not sure…exactly? Maybe to the black and white place with the little girl on the bicycle and dad’s barbershop.”

Diego stared at him, fridge door still open and the open bottle of orange juice half way to his mouth. “Uh-huh,” Diego agreed slowly, eyes wide as he nodded in the way that he always did when he seemed to just resign himself to agreeing with Klaus’ brand of crazy. “Sure.”

There was a silence.

“It’s quiet isn’t it?” Klaus said. “So quiet. Too quiet.”

“Is Ben…” Diego stalled, biting his lip. “Is Ben coming…you know…back?”

“Erm,” Klaus felt a little lost, all of a sudden. “I don’t…know?”

“Did you tell him to go?” Diego asked, and here came the disappointed-Diego face.

Klaus shuffled his feet, feeling a little like a guilty child. “Well yes, but I didn’t _mean_ it.”

Diego watched him for a moment, before breaking it as he took a swig of orange juice. “He’ll be back,” Diego decided, shutting the fridge door. “He might just need some time to cool off, you know? Like he used to?”

“You’re right,” Klaus nodded, feeling relieved, even as his fingers continued to tap a nervous tap on the table top. “He’ll be back.” Klaus needed him back. It was like his very talkative shadow had left him. “And when he does I should sew him to my feet,” Klaus said. “That’s how Peter Pan did it.” He paused thoughtfully. “Though really it’s more like I’m Pinocchio and I’ve lost Jiminy Cricket.”

Diego stared at him blankly.

“My conscience has gone,” Klaus summarised.

“Oh great,” Diego said, sarcastic but exasperatedly fond, as was his way with Klaus, and Klaus had grown to rather like it. Diego patted Klaus' arm as he wandered past him. “That’s all we need.”

“So you’re not worried he’s gone then?” Klaus called after him.

“Only if he doesn’t come back,” Diego answered over his shoulder as he carried on his merry way with his orange juice.

“Only if he doesn’t come back,” Klaus repeated to himself. “He’s right,” Klaus turned his head, “Diego’s often right about these…” and then Klaus realised that he was talking to himself. Because Ben wasn’t there. “Ah shit.”

***

Diego wasn’t right about everything, though. But Ben tended to be, irritatingly. And Ben had been right about the whole charging in without more observation. Which meant Klaus, who had sided with Number 5, Diego and Luther out of spite, was wrong.

Well, what was new there?

And Ben still wasn’t back to tell him ‘I told you so’.

If they had done just a couple days’ more observation then they would have avoided running into those weird time-travelling, mask-wearing shooty men that had turned up to Kenny’s birthday at the bowling alley and then crashed Vanya’s roof-raising – or falling, but whatever – performance.

Diego and Klaus had run into them by accident, head-on. Quite literally, in Diego’s case; when they dropped to the ground, the projectile fired at them hit and exploded the wall beside them and knocked him right the fuck out.

The last time Klaus had been faced by these bastards he had had Ben to help him be the best lookout in the history of lookouts. But now? Now Ben wasn’t there and Klaus was doing this alone.

“Fuck, Diego, come on…” Klaus begged, dragging Diego’s prone body down an alley. Thankfully the rubble and dust and debris from the wall explosion had given him enough time to drag Diego out of sight of the gunmen. Klaus could feel blood running sluggishly down the side of his own face from being hit by fragments of brick.

Diego had a nasty cut on the back of his head.

God damn why did Klaus have to tell Ben to piss off? The others had been disappointed with him when he had had to admit that Ben had gone away after they really had been speaking to thin-air for a whole afternoon and Diego made Klaus tell the truth. That had been bad enough, but now he had an unconscious brother on his hands and he couldn’t protect him properly.

“Ben!” Klaus hissed under his breath, “Ben! Now would be a really good time to make a tentacle-filled reappearance, bro!”

But Ben did not appear.

“You’re alright, Diego, you’re alright,” Klaus told Diego, hauling them back behind some crates, and sitting down against the wall, pulling Diego to rest against his chest, his brother’s head lolling back against his shoulder. Klaus pressed testing fingers to Diego’s head and Diego moaned softly. “Sorry, sorry,” Klaus apologised, but Diego continued to stir. “Diego? You with me?”

Diego’s eyelids fluttered and he cracked an eye open, looking at Klaus from the corner of it. “Klaus, w-w-what happened?”

It kind of broke Klaus’ heart every time his adult brother slipped back to his childhood stammer. It also kept him unconditionally fond of him.

“We ran into those gunmen from the bowling alley and theatre. Number 5’s friends. Remember?”

“Shit,” Diego groaned. “I…”

Klaus clapped a hand over Diego’s mouth, freezing as he heard footsteps down the alleyway. The two brothers waited, wide eyed, and even as they waited, Diego was woozily easing a dagger out of his nearest holster.

They found them, the time-travelling men, because of course they fucking did. They advanced slowly. One of them slower still, after Diego threw the dagger and it hit him in the thigh. It didn’t take him down, though.

“Ben!” Klaus gave up all pretence of keeping quiet,“Ben, now would be a really, really good time! Ben! Ben! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!” He pulled Diego further back against his chest, holding an arm around him as though that would protect him from the bullets that would soon be heading their way. Which it would not. Not without Ben. Even so, Klaus clenched his fists and urged them to light up with blue light. “This isn’t for me! This is for Diego, man! It’s for Diego! Diego’s aim is off so you know it’s bad! He hit a guy in the thigh! In the thigh Ben! Ben! Ben I’m sorry ok just…”

His fists started to glow blue.

“Oh thank fuck,” he breathed, as Ben appeared, standing right in front of where Klaus and Diego were slumped, the blue supernatural light connecting in trails from Klaus’ fists to Ben’s blue ethereal form. Ben’s tentacles did all the work.

When all the men were dead, Ben turned around to look down at them.

“Ben?” Diego slurred, peering up at him, seeming surprised to see him, as though not quite remembering that Ben was dead. “Oh hey.”

Ben grinned at him, fond, wide, but then he was gone. Or at least, to Diego, he was gone.

For Klaus, he stayed.

“Thank god you’re back,” Klaus said, tiredly, exhausted from conjuring his brother. “You know I don’t make half as many good decisions when you’re not here.”

“Clearly,” Ben raised an eyebrow. “I told you so.”

“And I accept and admit to that,” Klaus said, “If only for the reason that it is all I have wanted to hear you say all day.”

Ben smiled at him, crouching down and reaching out to grasp Klaus’ chin, turning his face to inspect the cut on his forehead, before reaching for Diego, looking a little disappointed when his hand went right through him. Klaus did it for him, letting his fingers rest against Diego’s jaw to tilt his head for inspection. Diego appeared to be drifting in and out of consciousness again, but his pulse was strong and steady under Klaus’ fingers.

“He’ll be fine,” Ben promised. “Do you have your phone to get a message to the others?”

Klaus nodded, groping in his pocket for his phone, sending a ‘help’ text to the others and absently petting Diego’s hair with his other hand.

“Thanks for coming back for him,” Klaus said, once the text was sent, looking back at Ben sheepishly. 

“I came back for you too, dummy,” Ben said, reaching out to give Klaus' shoulder a gentle shove. "All you had to do was say sorry.”

“What?” Klaus blanched. “That was it? All I had to do was say sorry?” he pouted, “Now who’s being petty and childish?”

Ben stuck his tongue out at him exactly as Klaus had two days ago. He stood up, eyebrow raised as he teasingly threatened; “I can leave again if you…”

“No, no,” Klaus said adamantly, “No, no, you mustn’t leave again. Look what happens when you leave,” he gestured at himself and their concussed brother. “So you must stay. Because I think you inhabit my common sense and I could do with that back.”

“Ben…” Diego mumbled, groggily awake again, groping out to thin air, “Stay.”

“I’m staying,” Ben promised, smiling softly as he immediately crouched back down again. “I’m staying.”

“He’s staying,” Klaus told Diego, relieved, so goddamn relieved to be playing Mediator again. He could work at this middleman business, he could get used to it, so long as Ben didn’t leave again. “You aren’t going to leave again?” he asked Ben, just to make sure.

“I’m not going to leave again,” Ben promised, “Unless you decide to say ‘goodbye’ to me again anytime soon.”

Klaus lifted his ‘hello’ hand in answer.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be posting another short ficlet for these three in the next few days, so please look out for that too! Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading! Comments, kudos and bookmarks are appreciated as much as Hazel appreciates a good doughnut and Number 5 appreciates a decent cup of coffee.


End file.
